Exodus
243
14
. [
See appendix, note 3.
] The four hundred years had been fulfilled.
“And it came to pass the selfsame day, that the Lord did bring the
children of Israel out of the land of Egypt by their armies.” In their
departure from Egypt the Israelites bore with them a precious legacy,
in the bones of Joseph, which had so long awaited the fulfillment of
God’s promise, and which, during the dark years of bondage, had been
a reminder of Israel’s deliverance.
Instead of pursuing the direct route to Canaan, which lay through
the country of the Philistines, the Lord directed their course southward,
toward the shores of the Red Sea. “For God said, Lest peradventure the
people repent when they see war, and they return to Egypt.” Had they
attempted to pass through Philistia, their progress would have been
opposed; for the Philistines, regarding them as slaves escaping from
their masters, would not have hesitated to make war upon them. The
Israelites were poorly prepared for an encounter with that powerful
and warlike people. They had little knowledge of God and little faith
in Him, and they would have become terrified and disheartened. They
were unarmed and unaccustomed to war, their spirits were depressed
by long bondage, and they were encumbered with women and children,
flocks and herds. In leading them by the way of the Red Sea, the Lord
revealed Himself as a God of compassion as well as of judgment.
“And they took their journey from Succoth, and encamped in
Etham, in the edge of the wilderness. And the Lord went before
them by day in a pillar of cloud, to lead them the way; and by night
in a pillar of fire, to give them light; to go by day and night. He took
not away the pillar of the cloud by day, nor the pillar of fire by night,
from before the people.” Says the psalmist, “He spread a cloud for a
covering; and fire to give light in the night.”
Psalm 105:39
. See also
1
Corinthians 10:1, 2
. The standard of their invisible Leader was ever
with them. By day the cloud directed their journeyings or spread as a
canopy above the host. It served as a protection from the burning heat,
and by its coolness and moisture afforded grateful refreshment in the
parched, thirsty desert. By night it became a pillar of fire, illuminating
their encampment and constantly assuring them of the divine presence.
[283]
In one of the most beautiful and comforting passages of Isaiah’s
prophecy, reference is made to the pillar of cloud and of fire to represent
God’s care for His people in the great final struggle with the powers of
evil: “The Lord will create upon every dwelling place of Mount Zion,